Kulevrina

Hand coolers (in Russia they squeaked ) are one of the oldest European types of firearms. They first appear around 1339 . The French army takes armaments in about 1410 . Manual coulings were long smooth-bore tubes (sometimes six- or octagonal), with a “tail” at the end, about 1 meter long, fired with lead bullets. In the breech there was an opening for gunpowder and a wick; when firing, the “tail” of the cooler was supposed to be kept under the arm or abut against the ground.

Usually two people were required for firing — a loader, a gun loaded and a wick, and a gunner — a cooler — holding and pointing a gun.

This weapon was still very imperfect and, as a result: it was rather bulky and heavy, it required a sufficiently long time for preparation and guidance, in rainy or snowy weather the wicks often went out (so they had to be worn under hats), and misfires or delays were also frequent in shooting. Accuracy and, especially, the firing range also left much to be desired.

Towards the end of the 14th century, manual coolers were first improved - instead of an opening to the barrel, the coolers on the side attached a shelf for gunpowder with a lid on the hinge .

In 1482, the coulevard’s bed was not straight, but curved like a crossbow , which also made shooting easier. When fired, they began to put him on his shoulder.

In 1525, the shooting was facilitated by the fact that the powder pulp and powder, constantly sticking to the walls and poorly ignited, were replaced by grain powder.

Subsequently, the manual coulevrin finally became obsolete, giving way to more advanced small arms - a hand-held arquebus and a musket.

Another direction of the evolution of the coulévrine was its gradual transformation into a full - fledged artillery gun due to the increase in size and weight, and therefore the need for firing from the machine. The easel coolers were fired with stone or iron cores, and were also served by a crew of two soldiers. Large coolers were often decorated from the breech with the seigneur's coat of arms and had their own names.

Easel coolers were divided into three main subtypes (depending on their size):

• The extraordinary cooler could have a caliber of up to 5½ inches (140 mm), a length of 32 calibers (i.e. 4.5 m), and a weight of about 2,200 kg. Such a tool could throw nuclei with a diameter of up to 135 mm and a weight of up to 20 pounds (9.1 kg).
• An ordinary coulevrin with the same caliber had a shorter barrel - 3.6 m (25 calibres), and weighed about 2000 kg. The core had a diameter of 140 mm and weighed about 7.9 kg.
• A small coulevrin with a caliber of 5 inches (130 mm) and a barrel length of 29 calibers (3.6 m) weighed about 1800 kg. The core had a diameter of about 80 mm and weighed 6.6 kg.

The “side” ones (bastard) were distinguished with greater ease, that is, light coolers having a caliber of 100 mm and firing cores weighing 3.1 kg and medium coolers (caliber 114 mm, core weight 4.5 kg).

At first, the coulevins were transported to carts to the battlefield, then mounted on goats or a special machine, and then used as a stationary firing point. In the middle of the 15th century, a wheel carriage appeared and became widespread.

They fired in a direct trajectory, and the firing range of the cores varied from 320 to 1097 m. They were also used at sea, like ship guns.

• In Victor Hugo ’s historical novel “ Notre Dame de Paris ” (1831), a large cooler from the Billy Tower is mentioned, “of which seven Burgundians were killed with one blow on Sunday September 29, 1465” ^[1] .
• A large siege coulevrin appears in the popular historical novel by the Polish classic writer Henryk Sienkiewicz “The Flood” (1886), which contains, not so much based on documentary sources, as a description of the historical siege by the Swedish army of the Yasnogorsky Monastery in Czestochowa in November-December 1655 . According to Senkevich, the main character of the novel, coronet Orsha, Andrzej Kmitsits during a night sortie manages to undermine this heavy gun, laying a charge of gunpowder in the barrel. In reality, the Swedish general Burkhard Mueller near Czestochowa had only two relatively large 24-pound siege guns, one of which was riveted by the Poles; the rest of the Swedish guns were even smaller.
• Mentioned in the historical and adventure novels by Rafael Sabatini “Sea Hawk” (1915), “Black Swan” (1932) and others when describing sea battles with Spanish ships.

• Serpentine
• Falconet
• Ribadekin
• Bombard
• Basilisk
• Mortar

• Weapons // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Philip Kontamin War in the Middle Ages
• Encyclopedia of weapons. Arkebuz (gunshot and kulevrina)
• Kulevrina / Weapon catalog / Encyclopedia of weapons
• Kulevrina - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• "Culverin". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 2nd ed. 1989